American sensitivity is keeping this blogger from drawing parallels to another infamous videotaped assault

As an undergrad, one of the most exciting things about being a Maryland student was my university’s rivalry with Duke. Maybe “rivalry” is the wrong word. After all, is someone your rival if he doesn’t consider you to be his? Well, whatever. We fine Terps consider Duke to be our rival, even if that feeling isn’t reciprocated. Tickets to Duke basketball games were (and probably still are) doled out in a lottery based on overall season attendance–if it meant even a chance at a scoring a Duke ticket, many students would attend every single game leading up to it (and that’s a lot of boring games).

Spring 2006. NCAA women’s basketball tournament. Maryland beats Duke in double overtime. I was sitting on the edge of Simone’s bed, hyperventilating as the final seconds passed. We won. We won? WE WON! I, along with virtually everyone I had met since coming to college, rushed down to Route 1. There was yelling, cheering, shouting, singing and everything else you could imagine. At the intersection at Knox Road, a group of guys tried and failed to turn over a Shuttle-UM bus. Yes, my first (and only–unless you count that time in Budapest…) riot was everything I had hoped it to be. At one point, the cops in riot gear, perched on top of their horses, sprayed the crowd with pepper spray. Yes, your law-abiding friend was pepper-sprayed. (Am I badass enough for you yet?)

Those feelings of excitement came back when Maryland beat Duke in College Park in March. Of course, I would have been more excited had I not been in extraordinary amounts of pain and couch-ridden. But you know who wasn’t couch-ridden? University of Maryland junior Jack McKenna, who got the crap beat out of him by Prince George’s County police.

From The Diamondback: “The charging documents, filed by Officer Sean McAleavey, suggest he provoked the officers and assaulted a horse. The video shows no signs of McKenna provoking the officers or touching the horses.”

See for yourself:

One officer has already been suspended as a result of the incident. I’m interested to see the coverage this will get over the next few weeks, and what the results of the investigation will be. The Diamondback mentioned potential FBI involvement, but that seems a bit overkill, no? I’m expecting this to fade as soon as something bigger comes along. Oh, the beauty of a 24-hour news cycle…